Ramona is rural. Just ask the residents of San Diego County’s
Valley of the Sun and they’ll tell you. They like it that way.
Surrounded by rock-strewn coastal mountains, the valley was first
inhabited by Native Americans and then the Spanish who named it
"Nuevo," meaning New. Milton Santee, who helped develop the
area, changed the name to Ramona in 1884 after a popular book of the era.

Spread over 154 square miles and with a population of over 40,000,
the community attracts many new residents and businesses each year.
It’s only 40 minutes from Downtown San Diego and the beach and a
half-hour away from Cuyamaca and Laguna Mountain resorts.

In 1943 the U.S. Navy built a small, dusty airstrip at what is now
the Ramona Airport. In 1956, the facility was conveyed to San Diego
County and the airport has now grown to become the aviation center for
community service to San Diego's inland and mountain communities. The
Ramona Airport is the third busiest facility in the County’s system
with just over 155,000 operations each year.

The Ramona Air Attack Base is located in the CAL FIRE San Diego Unit and was established in
1957 by the then California Division of Forestry, making it the oldest
Air Attack Base in the Department’s system. In 1960, the US Forest
Service set up and operated from Ramona, separate from CDF, until 1966
when the agencies integrated and Ramona became a jointly operated base.

Ramona responds to an average of 450 calls per year. On
average, the base pumps 850,000 gallons of retardant a year. Ramona
has a possible peak output of 250,000 gallons of retardant each
day. The base’s direct protection area encompasses over 1.4 million
acres for CAL FIRE, 300,000 for the US Forest Service, and covers all
of San Diego County.

Uncomplicated airspace, available services, ideal climate and
proximity to North County business and recreation centers make Ramona
Airport an ideal destination for work or pleasure.

If you are familiar with the sport of drag racing, it will interest
you to know that the very first, official 1/4-mile drag strip was
opened at the Ramona Airport nearly 60 years ago. Now just an airport
service road, remnants of the old strip still remain.

Serving every type of aircraft from home-built experimentals to
corporate jets, the Ramona Airport is home to a fully staffed air
traffic control tower, three full-service Fixed Base Operators (FBOs),
an avionics center, an aircraft service center, nine aviation
businesses, a full-time airport manager and the world's only
helicopter museum with operational helicopters.